Cover Yourself with God - 1 Kings 5-9

1 Kings 6:20-22 (ESV)

The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar. And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

1 Kings 6:28-30 (ESV)

And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.

1 Kings 6:32 (ESV)

He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

1 Kings 6:35 (ESV)

On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work.

Imagine coming home and your spouse has made the decision to cover all your floors and many of the fixtures of your home with pure gold.   Imagine a house such as this.   That is what is being described in the above passage about the Temple Solomon was building for God.   Everything was made in a way to magnify God in all His glory.    Gold was the best way to do that.   We have to recall that when Babylon would eventually raid Jerusalem because of Israel’s disobedience, they would tear out all this gold.    Yet, at this point in time the nation was obedient and Solomon was building something to show the splendor of God.   We don’t use such artifacts today.  Our temple is our bodies.  The Holy Spirit dwells within us and guides us and seals us for Christ.  But our lives ought to reflect that truth the same way that Solomon reflected God’s glory in the gold.   God can’t be contained in a temple, no matter how much splendor it portrays.   Nor can God be contained in our bodies.  But we are His Temple and we ought to reflect the same truth and thoughts that Solomon was trying to convey when he covered everything with gold.   

1 Corinthians 6:19 (ESV)

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

We belong to the God of heaven and ought to display His glory in our bodies.